


Let's Rattle

by whoneedsapublisher



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-29
Updated: 2017-08-29
Packaged: 2018-12-21 10:36:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11942352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whoneedsapublisher/pseuds/whoneedsapublisher
Summary: Frustrated with Maki's refusal to take the hint and ask her out, Nico decides to make the first move. It doesn't elicit quite the reaction she was hoping for.





	Let's Rattle

This was probably the worst possible way that this situation could have turned out, Nico mused, as she touched her fingers to her nose and stared at the blood that came away on them. Frankly, she hadn’t even considered it as possibility that it would go  _ this _ badly.

* * *

 

It had started, as so many bad things did, with Nico taking Nozomi’s advice. Specifically, advice involving Maki. On second thought, maybe it wasn’t surprising how badly it had turned out.

“Nozomiiiii.” Nico had said melodiously, in a lilting tone that some uncultured people with no appreciation for her subtle vocal stylings might call “whining”.

“Hmm? What is it?” Nozomi had looked up from her cards with an innocent look on her face. Doubtless it was nothing but an act and she had already planned this nefarious sequence of events from even before Nico had spoken up.

“Maki’s being dumb.” Nico had said, giving a fair and honest assessment of the situation encompassing all of the facts and  _ not _ griping. “Even though Nico has been trying her hardest and being absolutely irresistible around her, she  _ still _ hasn’t made a move even though she’s  _ obviously _ head over heels.”

Nozomi had laughed. At the time, poor innocent Nico had been fooled into thinking it was good natured laugh of amusement, but clearly must have been a wicked cackle as Nozomi watched the pieces of her plan fall into place.

“Hmm, the two of you are quite stubborn, aren’t you?”

“What?! As if Nico’s reasonable and justified pride can be compared to that obstinate hardheaded mule of a woman.” Nico had retorted, flawlessly riposting and debunking Nozomi’s clearly absurd statement. Perhaps being so soundly rebuffed was what had inspired such a cruel trick by Nico’s  _ so-called _ friend Nozomi.

“Well, either way, perhaps you should give her some hint you’re interested, Nico?” Nozomi had suggested. It seemed logical enough at the time. If only she had known.

“Oh? Do you mean Maki is worried that the great Nico is too good for her? Is she too starstruck by my idol skill to imagine that I could possibly be willing to accept her as a girlfriend?” Well, that was silly of her to think. Nico could be magnanimous, and Maki wasn’t… entirely terrible herself. She was… attractive, and it was clearly just a fact that she was smart, and it was hard to argue that she wasn’t cool and sweet and adorable and- well, the point was Nico would accept her advances if Maki would just  _ make a move already _ .

“Maybe you should try a little flirting.” Nozomi had said, her face still radiating false innocence like a pirate ship flying merchant colours to close in on their prey.

“What? I’ve already done  _ that _ . If I was any more touchy with her I’d be getting to second base.” Brushes on her shoulder, short squeezes of her hand, hugs… Maki barely reacted except to splutter and push her away sometimes.

“You could try a pick up line.” There it was, the real problem. The point where Nozomi had sprung her nefarious trap and punctured Nico’s leg with her… well, the metaphor wasn’t  _ all _ there but the point was that Nozomi had set Nico down the track that had lead to this horrible event.

“Ew, you mean like ‘Nice legs, when do they open?’ or something?” Nico had made a disgusted face, and had been completely within her rights to. The kind of pigs who threw out those demeaning one liners wouldn’t have had a snowball’s chance in hell at someone  _ classy _ like Maki.

“Oooh, that’s the first one you think of? Interesting.” Nozomi’s face had been insufferably smug. Nico had thought that was her trap, but clearly it had just been a feint.

“Don’t turn this into some weird personality test!” Nico had demanded. As if the first random gross line she remembered was somehow indicative of her or her feelings for Maki. The fact that she liked Maki’s legs was  _ entirely _ unrelated. Coincidences happened!

“Well, either way,” Nozomi had said, pointedly  _ not _ affirming that she wasn’t using this as a personality test, “you don’t have to use anything that crude. A pickup line is just a line that you use to try and flirt with someone. It doesn’t need to be anything sexual.”

If Nozomi had just stopped there, maybe things wouldn’t have gotten bad. Maybe Nico would have picked a different line, and she would have been fine. No doubt Nozomi would still have hoped for something amusing to happen, but it wouldn’t have been as nefarious a scheme. But she had to take it one step farther.

“In fact, I saw an article about some old cute pickup lines the other day…”

She had, of course, shown Nico the article. Her and Nico had laughed over some of them (who would ever call a woman “fine print”?) and winced at others (nothing quite as bad at “when do they open”, but some of them would definitely earn a slap) but in the end, Nico had picked one that she liked. Apparently it was an old line people used to ask a girl to dance. That seemed non-sexual enough to be sufficiently not sleazy. 

The stage had been set. Her and the rest of μs had been at a party, with Nico looking her  _ absolute _ cutest, and Maki  _ still _ hadn’t made a move, so Nico had mustered up her resolve, strutted up to Maki while she was chatting with Rin and thrown the line out.

“Maki! Come on, snake, let’s rattle!” It was cute enough, right? Like a rattlesnake doing a little dance and shaking its… snake booty? Would that be what the rattle was? Well, either way, dancing, right?

Maki had looked at her in complete disbelief. “Are you  _ serious _ ?” she’d asked, seemingly affronted. That had been worrying, but Nico had just convinced herself that she was annoyed because she thought Nico was joking, not annoyed at the suggestion as serious.

“Totally serious! Come on!”

Then Maki had looked very mad.

And all of a sudden, before Nico could even ask what on earth she had to be angry about, Maki had pulled her arm back and punched Nico straight in the face.

* * *

 

Maki found herself in a very unenviable position. She had reacted to something in a way that seemed completely justified, and then, mere moments later, had realized that she had made the biggest mistake of her life.

In fairness, it really had seemed like the logical reaction. Her and Nico’s relationship was… complicated. She still didn’t really understand Nico sometimes, and they ended up arguing at much as anything else. Nico had been uncomfortably affectionate recently, and it was getting harder for Maki to keep herself together. She could handle them squabbling, but when Nico got all touchy it brought up a lot of feelings she was far less capable of dealing with.

So when Nico stalked up to her and challenged her to a fight, what was she supposed to think?! Sure, it was a weird, archaic way to ask, but it was a phrase one of her uncles was fond of and she remembered what it meant.

Her uncle had also taught her that he who strikes first wins, and if Nico was going to come up to her and literally ask for it, well…

It was only after Nico reeled back yelling in confusion and holding her nose that Maki remembered something that her uncle had mentioned once.

When you told it to a man, it was an invitation to a fight. When you told it to a woman, it was an invitation to a dance.

* * *

 

Nico liked to think of herself as fairly tough. You couldn’t be made of glass if you had to deal with a bunch of younger siblings playing rough, and the life of an idol came with a certain physical fitness that tended to build muscle.

But she wasn’t a  _ brawler. _ She didn’t go around visiting boxing rings for a weekend fight twice a month. So maybe being punched in the face made her eyes water a little bit. That was all it was. And if she maybe was making some odd noises, it was probably because she was breathing through her mouth, given that breathing through her nose had gotten a little harder all of a sudden.

What was building in her eyes were certainly  _ not _ tears, and she definitely was  _ not _ sobbing a little bit. Even if she had just had her heart and possibly her nose broken simultaneously, she definitely was  _ not  _ about to cry in front of their friends.

* * *

 

Sometimes, Nozomi felt hopeless about herself. Like all her efforts were meaningless, digging in sand with her bare hands as it poured back into the shallow hole she was desperately trying to carve out, ending up with nothing but bloody fingers and a sad little dent in the dunes.

When she watched Maki react to Nico’s attempt to pick her up by  _ punching _ her, Nozomi briefly considered leaving the party to curl up in a ball at home. At least if she curled herself up very tightly and didn’t say anything, she couldn’t make make things any worse.

If she left now though, who knew how Nico might take it? Nozomi wasn’t sure if she could handle if it Nico hated her. So she stayed and watched Nico’s eyes start to fill with tears as Maki froze in place and started at Nico in horror.

How did it go this badly, anyway? Maki and Nico were so clearly nursing crushes on each other, it seemed like getting Nico to come on strong was the best way to resolve the stalemate. Surely Maki wasn’t against lesbians, was she? Nozomi couldn’t have misread her  _ that _ badly, could she have? Oh no, what if she  _ had _ ?!

Wait, Maki was doing something now. Oh. Hmmm, no, Nozomi had definitely read her right.

* * *

 

Nico was, of course, no stranger to comebacks. What was her very own idol career if not a come from behind victory, after all? Still, she had to admit that this was a much quicker turn around.

One minute she was getting punched in the face and  _ not  _ about to cry, and then next Maki was clinging to her like a rock in a stormy sea and babbling apologies.

“I’m so sorry! I thought you meant- what you said- my uncle- are you okay?”

“I’ve been better, Maki!” Nico managed, a little confused as to whether she should be angry, heartbroken, or something else.

“I-I’m sorry!” Maki said again. “But… why did you even say that?”

“I wanted to dance with you!” Nico decided that “angry” was probably the safest choice here.

“Then why didn’t you pick a way of asking that didn’t also mean ‘fight me’?” Maki asked. Nico’s head whipped around to glare at Nozomi, who stared back at her in disbelief. She  _ might _ be acting, but this didn’t really seem like her kind of plot. Maybe she really was just as surprised as Nico.

“If this is broken, I’ll never forgive you.” Nico said sullenly.

“I-I’m sure it’s not.” Maki said nervously. “So, um… after you maybe… get an ice pack…” Maki awkwardly looked away. “Do you… still want to dance?”

Nico paused for a moment.

Eh. Good enough. She was willing to call this plan a success.

“Sure.”


End file.
